School fundraising while we shop

It’s the start of the new year, and possibly a new round of fundraisers for parents. By the end of the school year, most of us are worn out from ticket sales, donations, and volunteering. But there are a few painless ways to raise money for our schools.

Here are nine ways to help your local school, just by buying the products you usually buy:

2. BoxTops4Education: clip box tops! Earn cash for your local school by clipping Box Tops labels from participating products. Get the kids involved with cutting and taping the labels on the sheets. You can earn even more cash for your school by shopping online. Each Box Top is worth 10 cents.

3. eScrip at Safeway: buy groceries! Register your Safeway or Pak ‘n Save loyalty card and they will contribute up to 4% of the purchases you make to your local school. And when you shop at the eScrip Online Mall, you can earn up to 10% more.

4. Give with Target: click to vote! Between July and September, vote weekly for your favorite school online. Schools receive a $25 Target gift card for every 25 votes received, up to $10,000 in gift cards. No purchase is necessary; the campaign ends when in September or when $2.5 million in Target gift cards have been awarded.

5. Labels for Education: clip labels! Earn educational merchandise for your school, such as computers, software, sports equipment, musical instruments, and library books, when you redeem Labels for Education UPCs and beverage caps. Labels for Education are worth 1 point (except for specially-marked packages). You can also shop online at participating retailers to earn even more points.

6. MyCokeRewards: enter codes!Donate your MyCokeRewards points to your local school and help them get things like athletic equipment, classroom supplies, learning aids and more. The kids can enter the codes online. Most codes are worth 3 points; codes on multi-packs may be worth 6-25 points.

7. Shop and Score at Times Supermarket: buy groceries! Between August and October, when you buy participating products at Times Supermarket, you can earn points for Hawaii high school athletes. Times is giving away $250,000 in Adidas uniforms.

8. Help Literacy in Hawaii Shine with Longs and Kraft: buy groceries! Between February 3 and March 2, 2013, when you shop at Longs Drugs, 10¢ for every participating Kraft product you buy will be donated to the Friends of the Library of Hawaii (up to $10,000).

9. Shop for Higher Education at Foodland: buy groceries! Between February and March, you can earn points for participating high schools by shopping at Foodland and Sack N Save stores. Foodland awards $200,000 in college scholarships to 100 Hawaii high school students.

It’s a great feeling to help local schools just by buying the things we usually buy.